Now You See Me

August 2007
17 x 22

NFS

In the last year, I have been concentrating on a study of the human face. I work exclusively with hand-dyed fabric and one commercial black using machine appliqué techniques. I finish using contours of quilting lines that highlight the planes of the face. So when I began thinking about what I wanted to do for a journal piece, I decided to focus on a face – but from a different angle.

I took a digital picture of a face in Photoshop and placed it on a new background – a bank of shells. I then added a very light transparent layer of blue glass behind the face to change the light and add a dimension of mystery. I then printed out the picture in sheets & stitched them together.

My goal was to make the little girl look as if she were a water fairy that had just sprung from the water and would be gone in the blink of an eye, so I set about to make the piece as ethereal as possible. I first embroidered greens through her hair. Then I burned her a tiara from Kunin sparkle felt and added foil around her profile.

I typically quilt faces but was very surprised at how it changed this piece. It usually brings forth detail and personality – but in this piece, the quilting made the face less realistic. However, the overall look was still whimsical which added to the theme of the piece.

I finished with some sequins and a net of pearls for her hair, a sparkle of sequin and bead in her eye, and beads and crystals in her tiara.